Caste

(1 syl.), race. The Portuguese casta. In Sanskrit the
word used for the same purpose is varna (colour). The four Hindu
castes are Brahmins (the sacred order), Shatriya
(soldiers and rulers), Vaisy'a (husbandmen and merchants),
Sudra (agricultural labourers and mechanics). The first issued from
the mouth of Brahma, the second from his arms, the third from his
thighs, and the fourth from his feet. Below these come thirty-six
inferior classes, to whom the Vedas are sealed, and who are held cursed
in this world and without hope in the next. The Jews seem to have
entertained the same notion respecting the common people, and hence the
Sanhedrim say to the officers, “This people; who know not the law, are
cursed.” (John vii. 49.)

To lose caste.

To lose position in society. To get degraded from one caste to an
inferior one.